A senior doctor attached to Chinmaya Mission Hospital and four other employees have been booked by the Indiranagar police for allegedly forcing a housekeeping staff member to clean a manhole.
Based on a complaint by Madhusudhan K.N., Assistant Director, Social Welfare Department, the police on Saturday charged the chief medical officer and senior HR and housekeeping staff under various sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.
In his statement, Mr. Madhusudhan, who conducted a probe before filing a police complaint, said the victim had been working at the hospital for the last 13 years. He claimed that the staffer was forced to get into the manhole to clean it manually, and was told that his employment would be terminated if he did not comply. The staffer approached an NGO for help stating that this was not the first time he had been forced to take up such a task.
ADVERTISEMENT
Notice to be issued
The matter was brought to the notice of the department. “A senior officer is now probing the case further and hospital employees will be issued notice to summon them for questioning soon,” said a police officer.